Woman drinks Costa coffee with blood in it after being served at Swansea drive-thru by staff member with cut hand

A COSTA drive through customer has vowed to drive past in future after being served coffee with blood in it.

The incident came at the UK coffee shop chain’s Llansamlet outlet and customer Janine Hughes has hit out at what she regards as the company’s inadequate response to her complaint.

Tomorrow she is due to get the result of blood tests.

Miss Hughes, from SA1 in Swansea, went to the outlet with her partner and her father and ordered two lattes, one of which had blood on the lid. She said the employee who served her had a cut hand and went to wash it while another staff member changed the lid.

“He should have changed the coffee,” she said. “My partner had that coffee. I drove off and took two sips of mine, and it tasted irony, I realised something was wrong, but did not know what at the time. Then I saw blood on the inside of the lid and realised there was blood in the coffee. My partner had not tried his as it was very hot, and he didn’t then.

“I drove back and asked to see the manager. The person who served me was mortified. I felt sorry for him. He should have gone off to wash his hands and we should have had two new coffees. I was offered new drinks and was given two lattes but I said I had to report it. It was too serious to ignore.”

The duty manager said the area manager would contact her, which only happened two days later. Miss Hughes emailed head office in Dunstable the day after the incident, but said she had not received a reply.

“The area manager was horrified and said something should have been done,” said the 30-year-old IT worker. “She was very apologetic.”

A follow-up letter of apology was sent, in which the area manager admitted that standards had fallen well short of what they should have been.

And she added: “I will ensure that my entire team will revisit all necessary training as an absolute minimum.”

A head office statement said: “Our area manager has spoken to Ms Hughes and apologised for the distress this obviously caused her. This was an isolated incident and does not reflect our high standards of safety and hygiene.”

Miss Hughes said: “I don’t think it should have been the area manager to apologise. It should have been head office. Not once have they contacted me. They have hidden behind the brand. That is terrible.

“I have had the worry of the blood tests. I don’t think I will ever go to Costa again. I will support my local coffee shops.”